No two ways around it: The polished Apple Store planned for San Francisco's Union Square has more to do with product branding than place-specific design.

But it might turn out to be branding of the most exquisite sort. And if so, it also will be three-dimensional proof that sometimes, public scrutiny and bureaucratic second-guessing make big-name architecture better, not worse.

Instead of a chic but generic box, the building approved for the corner of Post and Stockton streets this week by two city commissions has a depth and clean tension that was missing from the design unveiled last May. It also preserves a fountain by sculptor Ruth Asawa from the early 1970s, a work of communal folk art that's a visual time capsule of San Francisco back then.

Yes, the basic elements of the project are the same. A 44-foot wall of glass faces Union Square, framed in steel that extends up from the sidewalk along Stockton Street and then makes a 90-degree turn to become the roof. The north-facing wall is glass as well, opening onto a deep rectangular plaza that will be shared by the 35-story Grand Hyatt.

All of which is quite a change from what's there now, a triangular concrete building paired with a triangular brick plaza.

The design is by England's Foster + Partners, the renowned firm also doing Apple's headquarters in Cupertino.

That futuristic circular structure, sleek as any sci-fi vision, tries to be nothing if not distinct. By contrast, what first was proposed for Union Square was a perfunctory knock-off of something the tech giant has done hundreds of times before.

Glass, steel rearranged

Now, the approved design pulls back the glass wall on Post 8 feet from the outer edge of the steel frame. Vertical "columns" of steel have been added that separate the glass into six flat bays, the middle pair doing double duty as enormous sliding doors.

Along Stockton Street, meanwhile, the blank face of bead-blasted steel would now be cut by an 8-foot-wide band of insulated glass set 12 inches behind the metal surface, a see-through vein from bottom to top.

These changes, simple and blunt, add layers of detail to what otherwise would be a two-dimensional tale. They're a meticulous modern take on the formal architecture nearby.

So what happened? A public outcry that started when The Chronicle revealed that the plans did away with the Asawa fountain that's the lone attraction of the existing plaza - a bronze treasure cast from bakers' dough that had been fashioned by schoolchildren and "regular" San Franciscans to resemble places and people of civic renown.

Mayor Ed Lee, who had blessed Apple's initial design as "quite simply incredible," soon clarified that he hadn't realized the fountain was missing. This provided an opening for city planners to emphasize to Apple that the design as proposed had nothing in common with the rich classical structures for which Union Square is known.

Apple took the hint, and touts its changes as shining examples of contextual design. The column-like steel bars that would be set within the main glass wall, for instance, "echo traditional bay widths."

Contextual is in the eyes of the beholder; I'd prefer the store to be framed in stone, similar to Apple crates on Chicago's Michigan Avenue and near Lincoln Center in Manhattan. This option was tucked on Page 215 of the 258-page project packet, along with the comment that besides being "more massive," the "stone wall design represents older store direction."

Potential obstacle

The only obstacle is if the board goes along with a flurry of objections to the project from the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West. The union has called for a full environmental impact report, though the motive appears to be an attempt to gain leverage in a drive to organize security guards in Silicon Valley.

At one point, the SEIU attorney argued that the redone plaza would have a "significant" negative impact on the Asawa fountain by placing it in a more confined setting.

The opposite is the case.

The charm of the fountain is its intricacy, the panels studded with lore that only becomes visible by close inspection. Viewed from afar, it's just a dark rough blob.

The new setting would give Asawa's treasure the renewed prominence it deserves. It also might pull members of the public up to the privately built plaza with its tables and trees and a water wall at the back. That's a pay-off for everyone, even people who still think of Apple as a fruit.